Pool of Twilight - James M. Ward [114]
Kern exchanged a curious glance with the others.
Scant minutes later, Daile caught up with the group. Her cheeks were flushed, and she seemed slightly out of breath.
"I got a glimpse of the spire," she said excitedly. "It's no more than an hour's ride ahead."
Kern gave the ranger a piercing look. "How do you know, Daile?"
"I… I found a pile of boulders and climbed them," she said, but this didn't ring true. However, no one pressed the question.
Before long, the sun slipped behind a mountain, casting a premature gloom over the forest. Finally the pines gave way to rolling alpine tundra, and they espied the pinnacle of stone. It loomed above them, a foreboding sentinel. At the base of the natural basalt spire was a grove of what appeared to be dark, leafless oak trees. But there was something unnatural about the grove.
"I can see through the trees!" Listle exclaimed in surprise.
"Can't you feel it?" Daile asked, shuddering. 'They're not living trees at all. They're shadows. Dark echoes of the trees that used to grow there." She swore fiercely. "An abomination."
"It is the magic of the twilight pool," Evaine explained. "It pervades the very ground here, perverting all it touches. We must be careful."
Kern drew the hammer from his belt. "At least there are no monsters here to block our way."
"You're awfully sure of yourself," Trooper noted cuttingly.
"Do you see any monsters?" Kern asked in exasperation.
"No, but that's not the point." Trooper scratched his grizzled beard thoughtfully. "I remember a man who might not have been as eager as you to ride into that grove."
Kern groaned. "I know you're trying to help, Trooper, but this isn't really the time for one of your long-winded stories."
"Nonsense," the old paladin snorted. "It's the perfect time. This fellow I'm thinking of was a veteran warrior before you were even a mischievous whim in your parents' minds. One day we were riding across the Stonelands some leagues to the east of here when we saw a huge white fortress perched high on a hill. I asked him what he thought of the place. He said to me, 'Well, it's white on this side.'" The paladin paused, apparently waiting for Kern's reaction.
"I don't understand," Kern said with a frown.
"Don't jump to conclusions, lad!" Trooper's bushy eyebrows bristled as if for emphasis. "That's what it means. Believe what your eyes tell you, but only what they tell you, and no more."
Kern nodded, realizing his foolhardiness. It seemed there was still much to being a paladin that he had yet to learn. But there was no more time. They had reached the pool. He would just have to do his best to remember the lessons Trooper had taught him these last days, and hope he had learned enough.
The riders dismounted. On foot, they crossed the gray, snow-dusted tundra to the shadow-filled grove of trees. Evaine paused, shutting her eyes and spreading her arms wide. She winced, a flicker of pain crossing her brow.
"I can feel the power of the pool emanating from among the trees," she said hoarsely. "The entrance to the cavern is somewhere in the grove."
They stepped among the twisted shadow trees.
"I can still feel the suffering," Daile murmured. "Everything that perished here did so in great pain."
Gloom filled the air. Kern could see no more than a dozen paces ahead in the murk. The trees seemed to close in behind them with disconcerting swiftness. It was almost as if the trees had moved to block their escape, Kern thought He quickly discarded the unpleasant notion.
Trooper pulled out an oil-soaked torch, and flint and tinder to light it.
"I wouldn't do that," Evaine hissed.
The old paladin froze, then nodded. "You're right. I doubt they much care for fire."
"Whom do you speak of?" Miltiades asked, but Trooper did not answer.
They continued on.
Listle looked around nervously, her eyes growing wider by the minute. She began to turn her head this way and that. It felt as if someone-or something-was creeping up from behind them. She felt sure of it. The